Although riddled with criticism, the Instagram scene in Singapore is booming, not just as part of the ‘sharing society’, but also as a career.

While not everyone declares it (see: the Fyre fiasco), many posts are actually sponsored i.e. partnering with brands to feature their products in a “advertisement”.

Having ditched traditional advert types, companies are increasing invested in Instagram, and for good reason.

In Singapore alone, almost 50% of youths aged 16-24 trustthe word of their online role models more than traditional ads. In fact, influencer marketing here is highly lucrative, with an average return of investment of $6.86 per dollar spent.

However, the scene is also highly competitive, with over 12,000 individuals (from one agency alone). In order to make money, these personalities sometimes can’t afford to be too picky about the clients they work with, and therein lies the problem.

Scammers are like cockroaches – they are everywhere, and Instagram isn’t spared.

‘Sponsored Post’ Scam

Yesterday, we were alerted to a possible phishing scam experienced by a local social media personality. And we managed to get the shots of the conversation as seen below.

Image Credit: @vonnechuaa

In case you were wondering what the site links to, here’s a screenshot of it.

Screenshot from my Facebook account

Whoever was behind it wasn’t particularly helpful with responses, insisting the only way to view products was through the link. To make it look more legit, they also provided ‘evidence’ of previous partners.